Gov. Andrew Cuomo was recorded crooning a 1960s love song to a female aide less than half his age during a phone call in 2019, according to the blockbuster report on sexual harassment allegations against him released Tuesday.
The three-term Democrat sang several lines from “Do You Love Me?” by the Contours when then-aide Charlotte Bennett called him, a one-minute, nine-second audio clip posted online by Attorney General Letitia James revealed.
Near the start of the recording, Bennett, who’s in her mid-20s, told Cuomo, now 63, “Hi, governor. This is Charlotte.”
“OK,” Cuomo said before warbling, “Are you ready? Doo, doo, doo.”
He then asked Bennett, “You don’t know that song?”
“It’s before my time,” she said of the 1962 Motown hit.
Cuomo continued singing,” “Do you love me? Do you really love me? Do you love me? Do you care?”
The Oct. 4, 2019, conversation is among the evidence contained in a 168-page report that James released Tuesday, following an investigation conducted by outside lawyers she hired to investigated sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo.
The report concludes that Cuomo “engaged in conduct constituting sexual harassment under federal and New York State law…by among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women.”
Cuomo acknowledged making people feel “uncomfortable” but has denied touching anyone “inappropriately” or engaging in other misconduct.
